explain: freudian theories of structure/functioning of personality*

Sigmund Freud had proposed various theories regarding the structure and functioning of personality. These psychodynamic models of personality include, firstly, the three portions of id, ego, and superego, and how each part influences human behavior. The second theory is concerned with the different levels of consciousness: the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. Thirdly, Freud placed some importance on the sexual and aggressive drives and their effects on personality. Lastly, the five psychosexual stages of development shapes up the identity and personality of the adult a child develops into, as its ego develops. An empirical study of Little Hans’ case illustrates each of the theories.

According to Sigmund Freud, the structure of personality is composed of three parts: the id, ego and superego. Firstly, the id is the unconscious part of this model of personality that is the basis of all drives, including sexuality and aggression. It involves the pleasure principle, in which an individual is driven to obtain maximum pleasure—the id seeks for immediate gratification of these desires. Primary process thinking occurs with the id—it does not differentiate between external reality and fantasy, or a desire and its gratification. On the contrary, the superego is composed of moral restrictions of the society and family. It is like the inner authoritative voice that directs one to “do this because it’s moral”, and not “do that because it’s unethical”. The superego is in constant conflict with the id, as it leads people to act morally and do what is ‘right’. It isn’t possible to always be perfect and satisfy everybody, or always be self-centered and obtain immediate pleasure. Because of this, the ego mediates between the id and superego, as it balances the demands of both and also takes note of reality (defined as the reality principle, in which the external surroundings come into awareness). The ego strives to make the most rational decision and shows in our outward behavior, although this is a very difficult responsibility. In Little Hans’ case study, it is possible to see that Hans’ ego is still undergoing development, and could not yet balance the demands of the id and external reality, as he still feels sexual desires for his mother, and feels a childish jealousy and hatred for his sister. He still fears that his mother would shun him aside and pay attention to his sister instead, and hopes for the death of his father; his id says “But I don’t want a baby sister!” Hans is not heeding his superego, which tells him that killing his sister and father off to achieve his mother’s love and care is morally wrong.

Freud also proposed that awareness is divided into different levels of consciousness, and includes the conscious and subconscious (further divided into the preconscious and unconscious), and that they influence personality. These layers make up the topographical model of the mind. The conscious is the portion of the mind which contains the emotions and thoughts that one is immediately aware of at any particular time, and contrarily, the subconscious contains desires, ideas, and feelings that are beneath the conscious level of awareness that cannot be accessed at once. The preconscious, therefore, contains the mind’s contents that could be recalled by choice and brought back to consciousness but with a little effort. However, Freud said the unconscious contains motivations, fears, and thoughts that may be the real reasons behind human behavior—it cannot be accessed simply by recalling, but only through dreams, humor, and Freudian slips. These contents are blocked from conscious awareness through defense mechanisms, such as repression or rationalization, to protect the ego from anxiety and threatening thoughts that may negatively alter the perception of oneself. Freud believed that the unconscious was a very influential part of the mind that affects behavior, and may be expressed as physical symptoms in patients with mental disorders. In Little Hans’ case, he was repressing his sexual curiosity, guilt, and fear that he was developing and pushing the thoughts into his unconscious. Freud believed Hans wished to see others’ widdlers for comparison and display his own to others. He repressed sexual desires for his mother and the castration fear from conscious awareness. Hans’ unconscious contains sexual and aggressive motivations that show in his personality.

Freud also placed great emphasis on drives, pleasure and aggression, as they motivate humans to behave in certain ways and shapes up personality. He placed an importance on biological influences and the survival instinct of humans to obtain the basic needs and gain maximum pleasure, as described in the pleasure principle. When World War I struck, Freud observed soldiers suffering from traumas, and proposed the theory of the self-destructive aggressive drive, which may be one of the causes of psychological conflicts. Freud used comparisons from Greek mythology, comparing Eros, god of love, to the sexual, optimistic drive, and Thanatos, symbol of death, to the aggressive drive and the death wish—both are present but conflicting forces in behavior. Freud stated that both drives are involved with seeking gratification. Little Hans’ behavior was influenced by the sexual drive, shown as feelings for his mother and pleasure in touching his widdler, and by the aggressive drive, as the death wish towards eliminating his father and sister to be alone with his mom. As they shape personality, Hans’ strong drives may be the cause of psychological problems he experienced.

Additionally, Freud emphasized on the theory of the five psychosexual stages of development, which will shape up the personality of the adult one will grow up to be. He stated that during the course of our lives, we are driven by basic drives to obtain gratification of needs, and the expression of these needs change from each stage to another in different erogenous zones. Most stages occur during childhood, placing importance of childhood experiences’ role on determining one’s future personality. At each stage, challenges and are met, and how each individual confronts them is different and could have negative or positive impacts on personality. The first oral stage occurs from birth to 15 months, where the mouth is the focus of gratification. The child learns to delay gratification, realizing that it has to wait for its needs from the parent, and develops a body image that is different from others. Another important experience is weaning, when a child does not receive as much intimate contact with the mother as before, therefore it is the first loss of life that influences he child’s awareness of the external reality and ego formation. The second stage is the anal stage, from 15 months to 3 years of age, with the libido’s focus on the anus, when the child takes pleasure in handling feces. The key challenge is toilet training, because the child’s id doesn’t want to clean up but the parents (external world) think of feces as dirty and unhealthy. If the parents emphasize it too much, the child may grow up to be over-organized, and if the parents always give in, the child will grow up with an unequal balance of heeding the id and the external world, and be messy. The phallic stage, the third stage, is a crucial step in development during 4 to 5 years of age. The child experiences the oedipal conflict, in which the sexual desires for the parent of the opposite sex begin, and the libido’s focus is the penis. A boy develops castration fear and anxiety, as he becomes afraid that the father would realize his desires for the mother and that he will be punished for these feelings. However, a girl may develop penis envy when she realizes she doesn’t have a penis like her mother, therefore she develops sexual attraction towards the father. Eventually, both genders would cease their sexual desires and identify with the parent of the same sex’s values and characteristics. Fixation at this stage may result in an over-sexual nature, or an asexual one. During the fourth stage, the latency stage, there is no focus of gratification as sexual desires are repressed, and social life becomes important to children of ages 6 to 12. Lastly, in the genital stage, sexuality is brought back to consciousness and again the focus is the genitals; however, it is expressed as adult sexuality and symbolic gratification in which the ultimate goal is to have sexual intercourse. This stage covers most of life, as it is from age 12 onwards until death, and was not emphasized by Freud as important compared to previous stages. Concerning Little Hans’ case, which occurred during the phallic stage, the warning that Hans’ mother gave to him (threatening to have the widdler cut off if he kept playing with it to gain sexual pleasure) instilled castration fear in Hans. As Freud said, Hans was seeking gratification by touching and thinking about the sexual organ, and developing the fear of the father, who was more powerful. Hans was referred to as a ‘little Oedipus’, as he wanted to ‘get his father out of the way’ and be alone with his mother.

To understand the development and structure of personality, Freud’s theories regarding the three-part structure, the levels of consciousness, drives, and the psychosexual stages of development should be considered. These structures may influence human behavior and have an impact on personality development, as illustrated by Little Hans’ case study. Also, the theories have formed a basis on the structure and functioning of personality, and the workings of the mind, although they are still controversial.

-- yuki